A shop worker who tried to calm down a knife-wielding robber in a Derby supermarket has been awarded £500 for her bravery by a judge.

Simone Wiggins approached Desmond Myers while he was ransacking the tills at the Co-op, in Ashbourne Road, after thrusting a knife towards the chest of one of her co-workers.

She was seen by a jury on CCTV telling the 25-year-old not to harm anyone while he pulled notes from the cash register.

In a statement read out during the trial at Derby Crown Court, the team leader, who was the most senior member of staff on duty during the raid, told how she “tried to talk to him to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone” as Myers robbed the convenience store.

And a second man, Callum North, who witnessed the robbery and went after Myers, has also been awarded £500 from the public purse by Judge Jonathan Bennett.

Desmond Myers, aged 25 (Image: Derbyshire Police)

A jury took just over an hour to convict Myers of robbery on the third day of his trial.

Judge Bennett jailed Myers, of Hucknall Road, Nottingham for seven years following the guilty verdict on Friday.

In her statement, which was read out to the jury on day one of the trial, Ms Wiggins said: “I could see the till and I saw a man pointing a knife at Michael’s chest (co-worker Michael Wright who was behind the counter and was threatened by Myers).

“He was shouting ‘I want the cash, I want the cash’.

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“I could see Ben (a third worker) was trying to open a till but was panicking. I went to try and talk to the man to make sure he didn’t hurt anyone and he was saying: ‘I want the money, I have a kid, give me the money’.”

CCTV played during the trial showed Myers enter the store with his hood pulled up and his face covered.

Staff and customers are in the shop at the time and Myers points the eight-inch kitchen knife towards Mr Wright’s chest before getting behind the counter, stealing £400 from the tills and £300 of cigarettes from a display cabinet.

The Co-op in Ashbourne Road, Derby where the armed robbery took place (Image: Google Maps)

He is then seen running out of the store and into a taxi which was parked in nearby Markeaton Street. That taxi driver called the police after dropping Myers off and the knifeman was arrested later that evening at his girlfriend’s house in Littleover.

In his statement, Mr Wright, who was threatened by Myers, said: “I served a customer and shouted ‘next please’.

”When I looked up, I saw a knife being pointed at my chest. The man said: ’Give me the money, open your till now’.

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Myers had denied being the robber saying he “100%” did not carry out the crime. Giving evidence, he said the reason he was captured close to the incident at the time it took place, wearing the same clothes as the person in the CCTV, was “a coincidence”.